But you’re an expert in your field – why would you need to be asking questions?

After all in order to be an expert you have been concentrating on a specific thing – which is good. Don’t fall into the habit of relying on your expertise in one field to answer questions in another – seek another expert.

I spoke with a manufacturer of plastic film yesterday, they are an expert in the production of plastic film. They are a large facility turning out huge amounts of product every year. Along the way they have adjusted, maintained, increased, decreased and improved many things within their production process. They have dealt with all kinds of equipment and materials, problems and solutions.

They contacted us about a Super Air Knife quote for a tensioning application on the film. They requested a 42″ Super Air Knife for their 47″ film web. I asked one simple question about any concerns for the edges of the film fluttering if the film was already not under enough tension and their response was to say “good point”. Another potential crisis averted.

We know there are a ton of things to think about for producing plastic film, and their are tons of things to think about when producing just about anything else. This only points to the fact that when you are already thinking about a million things, you may have missed on or two others, fortunately there are other experts in other fields we can all rely upon.

When I speak with customers about potential solutions for their problems, I generally ask them questions about their process because they are the expert, not me. Once I understand their process well, I can begin to make a suggestion about a solution. It doesn’t ever make me an expert in their field but certainly improves my knowledge of how compressed air can be useful.

So if you are an expert in your field, call another expert when the time comes – even though you know all there is to know about your specialty, it may just improve your chances of success.

Kirk Edwards
Application Engineer
kirkedwards@exair.com